New Delhi, Nov 11: Indian Railways gave a special gift to the people of the country ahead of Diwali. Adding more fun at this celebration time, railways announced that customer(s) can book a railway ticket online 30 minutes prior to the departure of a train.

The new rule will be applicable from Nov 12, 2015, informed officials of Indian Railways.

Railways also made changes in its system of preparation of chart, which would now be prepared twice. The new move will help the passengers to a great extent.

First reservation chart would be prepared four hours prior to departure of a train while second and final one, 30 minutes before the train departs, a senior Railway official said.

Booking will be allowed on internet as well as at reservation counters for a particular train, subject to availability of berths, even after the preparation of first reservation chart.

Now, it has been made mandatory for the concerned department to finalise the reservation chart four hours before the departure of train from Nov 12 in order to facilitate passengers to know the status of their ticket and plan their journey well in time.

This is a significant move to provide additional booking facilities enabling passengers to buy tickets even after the preparation of reservation charts, the official said.

A second and final chart of reservations will be made available before departure of train and handed over to onboard ticket checking staff.

This exercise will ensure optimum utilisation of train accommodation as well as enhanced earnings, the official said.

Also, there were complaints of delay in finalisation of reservation chart giving scope to touts for indulging in illegal ticketing activities.